@Flux- Actually MPEG conversion might come with a reference design without additional cost. You should check out Xilinx and Altera. I think Lattice has a video reference design too, but I think its HD and probably a bit more expensive. Worth a quick look however.

@Huntwork- SoC is System on Chip. It losely is defined as a device that can implement an entire system. For example a device with a processor, peripherals, memory, etc that can operate stand alone. When I say SoC FPGA I also mean it has FPGA fabric on it. (Sorry for the late answer, I missed your question).

?? So something like getting raw video from 3 non HD cameras, and converting to MPEG....would that be concidered not to complex? I'm new to this idea of using FPGA so nit sure what they would concider complex.

@Flux- Many IP blocks (the less complex ones) are free. The more complicated blocks (like fancy video conversion or high-level communications) can require a flat fee. I don;t think any of them are royalty based now.

Design requirements always drive the micro selection. Typically, the requirements are an incremental design effort so the design is based of existing technology we have in place. If the design is a total start up from scratch, research will be done to available devices to see which best meets the new requirements. Often it will be based on processor famillies we already use, sometimes its a totally new device. All is driven by the requirements.

Selection of MCU has typically been based on re-use of existing code. Occasionally there is no need to retain software compatibility and the hardware selection is free to choose based on cost and availablility.

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A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

It won't be too much longer and hardware design, as we used to know it, will be remembered alongside the slide rule and the Karnaugh map. You will need to move beyond those familiar bits and bytes into the new world of software centric design.

People who want to take advantage of solar energy in their homes no longer need to install a bolt-on solar-panel system atop their houses -- they can integrate solar-energy-harvesting shingles directing into an existing or new roof instead.

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